Russian Rifle Crate to DIY Workbench

It’s Themed Furniture Makeover Day! This month the theme is storage and organization.

Each month a group of blogging friends challenge each other to make over a piece of furniture with a theme. I love seeing what my friends share each month!

I didn’t exactly makeover a piece of furniture this month but my project will soon become a piece of furniture (sort of) for our lake house basement.

I’m sharing what I think is an awesome repurposed project and I think that my friends won’t mind at all that it’s not a piece of furniture. It definitely goes with this month’s storage and organization theme.

Have you heard of a Russian rifle storage crate? No? Me either, until Mr. SP brought one home from a friend’s house.

After WWII the Russians refurbished rifles and stored them in these crates. This must have happened over a number of years as our crate is marked 1983. The crates held up to 20 rifles, Mosin-Nagants to be exact. If you want to see a cool video of firearms inside a crate, click here.

I think that a crate like this would make a unique coffee table for a rustic family room. They must be hard to come by these days as the only one I found for sale was this one for sale on Ebay. Our friend has a few more crates, maybe we can persuade him that he should get rid of another one. We could then make a coffee table for the lake house.

We transformed a Russian rifle storage crate into a DIY work bench!

Our Russian Rifle Storage Crate Work Bench will be one of the first things that we move into our lake house basement. We know we’ll need tools and a work bench at the lake and this piece should work perfectly. I’m planning to put our DIY Crate Cabinet next to it for additional tool storage.

After finishing the inside of the crate, a stand was built for it out of two by fours. The front pieces hinge out to hold the crate’s lid which will serve as a work surface.

Surprise! When the crate’s lid is opened, look at the storage!

Pegboard will hold a variety of tools. We have duplicates of a lot of tools but will need to buy some new ones to keep at the lake.

Mr. SP designed and built card catalog style drawers that will provide storage for all sort of hardware that we’ll need at the lake. The brass plated cabinet label pulls are from D. Lawless Hardware. The drawers were stained with General Finishes stain in brown mahogany.

Here is another look at the workbench opened and ready for use.

I usually take pictures outside but it’s impossible for me to do so this time of year because by the time I get home from work, there is very little light left. Mr. SP helped me make a drop cloth backdrop so that I could get pictures to share today. We didn’t make it quite wide enough as you can see my grandfather’s mid-century Craftsman band saw in the background. (Isn’t it cool looking? I really think it should be on display somewhere.)

I think our Russian Rifle Storage Crate Work Bench will be a conversation piece when guests see it in our lake house basement. Our friend was happy to get it out of his basement and we are happy to have a new work bench. Win-win!

I’m looking forward to seeing this month’s storage and organization projects. Scroll through the links below to enjoy them all.

What a clever idea! I’m amazed at how you came up with this idea. Thanks for sharing at Inspired by You. I pinned it to our group board. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and please check back on Friday to see if you have been featured and visit us again next Sunday.

this is neato – will be sharing with my husband. 🙂 i’ve also seen a large suitcase used as a tv case in a similar setup. i have a vintage (very large) case that could easily hold a good size flat screen tv .. it’s always nice to close the door so to speak on the idiot box but have it available in an awesome case. 🙂

This is a wonderful idea. I have a U.S. Air Force footlocker from the early 1950s. It was my toy box as a child. (Can’t tell you how many times it smacked me in the back of the head. 1960s weren’t much for safety. Now I have a grandson who’s 1. I want a place for him in my art/sewing/craft/whatever I’m working on room in a few years. Now I know what it will be! Thanks so much for the great idea

I am so glad that my project inspired you to think of a way to use your 1950’s footlocker. I was thrilled with the end result of our project and it’s always a conversation piece when people see it in our workshop.

Trackbacks

[…] isn’t our first vintage Russian military upcycle. Back in November I shared how we repurposed a Russian Rifle Storage Crate into a DIY Work Bench. This is now our work bench at the lake, and we love that it folds up when we aren’t using […]

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I’m a homebody who loves to be active. I enjoy cooking and experimenting with new recipes. I love to decorate, craft, garden, read, and sew. My very favorite thing to do is to sweat, and when I’m not DIYing, I’m likely to be at the gym. I also enjoy spending time with my sweet dog, Sherman.